The Andersons
by spaztronaut
Summary: Felicity's doing her best to take care of William now that they're in witness protection and William is terrified of losing another person he loves.


Felicity was having flashbacks to college. And not only because of the dyed hair and nose ring she was sporting.

When she was eighteen and trying to support herself while at MIT, Felicity had taken a part time job as a barista. Her love of coffee aside, it was a pretty sucky job, so the fact that she was serving coffee, once again, at twenty-eight? Yeah, not exactly a step forward in her career.

Just another pitfall of being in witness protection.

With a sigh, Felicity pushed back a strand of long blonde hair that faded into a brilliant pink, and finished up the espresso for the guy waiting patiently at the counter. He'd been a regular since Felicity started working at Radu's Coffee and she knew his order without even having to ask.

"Thanks." The guy smiled as she placed the cup in front of him and then took a sip. The froth left a little mustache behind and Felicity grinned.

"You have a little..." She gestured to her upper lip and the guy's eyes went wide. He swiped the back of his hand over his mouth and she grabbed him a napkin out of one of the holders.

"Thanks," he repeated, his smile a little embarrassed. "I'm Justin, by the way. I don't think I've ever introduced myself."

Felicity bit her lip. Whenever they introduced themselves they were about to hit on her. It had happened several times in the past few months and it never got less awkward. But this guy had always been nice, she reminded herself. And they'd hit the midday lull, so he was the only customer currently sitting at the counter. Maybe he was just making polite conversation.

"Stephanie." She'd almost said Felicity. She always almost said Felicity. It had been nearly five months since she'd been handed a brand new identity, you'd think she'd be used to it by now.

Justin smiled, and he had a really great smile she couldn't help but notice. For just a second she let herself consider what it would be like if things were different, simpler. A cute guy smiles at her and maybe it's the start of a coffee shop meet-cute. But things weren't different, and despite how sucky everything had become in the past six months—and they were sucky. Her husband had gone to prison, a psychopath had all but certainly put a hit out on her and her stepson, and she was now living under a false identity and getting hit on by strangers she served coffee—she still couldn't say she'd change a thing.

The bell above the door chimed, followed by an excited, "Stephanie!"

The grin overtook her before she'd even fully turned to see the newcomer. "Did you do it?"

William hurried over to the counter, hopping up onto the stool beside Justin and handing her a sheet of paper. "First place!"

A quick glance at the paper told her it was an award for first place in the Hope Springs Middle School science fair, written out to Clayton Anderson. Felicity had requested William's new name, hoping the familiarity would make the transition easier on him. She'd also wanted him to be able to retain something of his mother, since she had no idea how long they'd be forced to live under their new aliases.

"That's awesome, buddy." She grinned, handing him back his award. "My shift is almost over, so why don't you grab a table and start your homework and I'll bring you over a hot chocolate."

William agreed eagerly and, choosing a table near the front window, he pulled a few books out of his green backpack and got to work. A pang shot through her at the sight. He'd been wearing a lot more green recently, she'd noticed. It reminded her of how she used to cuddle with her dad's old MIT sweatshirt every night after he'd left her and her mother.

"That your little brother?" Justin asked, pulling her back from her thoughts with a warm smile.

"My son, actually."

His eyes went wide for just a moment before he composed himself. She couldn't blame him. She was far too young to have a nearly thirteen year old. In fact, she would have had to have been fifteen years old when she had William, the exact same age her mother was when she had her. Just another one of the striking similarities her new identity had to her childhood.

Justin shook his head. "He calls you by your first name?"

Forcing a smile, she said, "We're a… progressive family."

To be fair, Justin's was one of the more tactful responses she'd gotten to introducing William as her son. In contrast, their neighbor—Old Lady Cramer—had given her a dirty look and said, "I bet now you wish you'd kept your legs closed and gone to college?" Felicity may have hacked into her bank account later that night and donated a hefty sum to a charity focused on helping single mothers afford college. It was a lot kinder than what she'd been tempted to do.

Justin went back to his espresso as she started foaming the milk for William's hot chocolate. "He seems like a good kid."

"He's the best," she said with a nod.

"And his father?"

It was another question she got a lot. Something she should be used to answering by now, but it still gutted her every single time. "He's... not in the picture right now."

That was the nicest way to say it that would get people to back off. She'd started off saying he was away, but that left open too many questions about where and why and when he'd be back. This way people assumed he'd left her or she'd left him or whatever and that she was just in denial or embarrassed about it. She didn't mind, as long as she didn't have to say that he was dead or that she was never going to see him again, because he wasn't and she was.

She'd been in near constant contact with John and Lyla since Oliver was sent to prison. They'd discussed a lot of scenarios, including staging a prison break. The problem was, she knew Oliver wasn't interested in becoming a fugitive, which meant they had to work the system until they found a legal way to get him out. Her husband was nothing if not stubborn. The fact that he was in prison at all attested to that fact.

Eventually, they'd find a solution that worked, they just needed to keep looking.

"That's a shame," Justin said, snapping Felicity out of her thoughts. She glanced back up to see his smile had turned sympathetic. He nodded toward William. "I bet he misses him."

The back of her eyes prickled with tears as she looked over, watching William hunch over the table writing something in his notebook. "He does," she said, her voice carrying more emotion than she would have liked. "We both do."

As if he felt her staring, William glanced back over his shoulder, meeting her gaze. She threw him a big smile, motioning that she'd be over with his hot chocolate in just a minute. She grabbed a to-go cup and got to work, not wanting to keep him waiting.

"Thank you," Justin said just as she was fitting the lid on William's drink. She looked up to see him pulling out a few dollar bills to leave on the counter. "And… I know it's none of my business, but..." He paused, hesitating just a moment. "For what it's worth, I hope he comes back into the picture soon."

The tears were back, this time even going so far as to catch in her eye lashes. "Me too," she breathed, caught off guard by the kindness in his voice. "Thank you."

Justin gave her one last smile and headed out, the bell above the door chiming as he left. She set William's hot chocolate down and collected the money on the counter, smiling at the generous tip he'd left her. Sadly enough, she actually needed the money. Lyla had gotten them new identities and some cash to get them started, but it was up to Felicity to make ends meet. At least until Diaz was off the board.

She sighed, wistfully, wishing she wasn't stuck here in this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. Her hands itched to have a keyboard in front of them, but she'd been told more than once not to try to track down Diaz on her own. She doubted he'd be able to track her location—she was so much better than Lyla gave her credit for—but she'd agreed nonetheless. It was one thing to risk her own safety—however little risk it actually was. It was another to risk William's, and that she wouldn't do, no matter how much she longed to go home.

Forty-five minutes later, after stopping at a local burger place that just made her miss Big Belly Burger that much more, she sat down to watch some tv and decompress. William sat beside her on the couch, quietly watching the newest episode of Doctor Who. He'd never been the most talkative kid—she couldn't blame him with all that he'd gone through in his short life—but tonight was different. She thought he'd be rambling away about the science fair with the way he'd been going on about it all week, but nothing. Just a sullen expression and closed off body language that reminded her way too much of Oliver when he was brooding.

"Alright," she said, pausing the show, "what's wrong?"

His reply was as instantaneous as it was shocking. "Are you going to divorce Dad?"

Felicity's mouth fell open and it took her a moment to process what he was asking. "What? Why would…? Why would you even think something like that? No, of course not."

William nodded, but he looked unconvinced. "I saw you talking to that guy at the cafe before. You were smiling a lot and you haven't smiled a lot since we moved here and I know you're mad at Dad for leaving—"

"Oh, William, no," she said, cutting him off before he could spiral any further. "Yes, I'm mad at your dad for leaving, but that doesn't mean I don't love him. And it doesn't mean I would ever… leave him."

She thought back to the split second in the coffee shop where she'd imagined how much easier things would be if she'd just been a girl flirting with a cute boy over coffee. Guilt rolled over her, causing her gut to clench. She'd never cheat on Oliver, and she'd meant it, what she'd told him after their wedding reception last year. She'd wait for him, for as long as it took.

"Your dad, he…" She sighed, still trying to make sense of Oliver's decision herself. "He thought he could protect us by making that deal with the FBI. It didn't work out the way he meant it to, but he did it because he loves us. You know that, right?" William nodded, wiping his palms on the legs of his jeans. "The thought of losing you, of losing us, scared him and he made a really stupid decision. And I'm mad at him because he didn't consult me about it, but I think I understand, at least a little, what he was thinking, because I would do anything to protect you. Just like I will do anything to get your dad out of prison. So don't worry so much, okay? Your dad and I… we'll work it out, we always do."

William nodded, but still wouldn't quite meet her eyes. "I just don't want to lose you, too," he said, quietly.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she dipped her head, forcing him to look at her. "You're not gonna lose me."

"That's what he said."

William was watching her with the expression of a boy that had lost everyone he'd ever loved. A boy that was petrified of losing the only person he had left. In that moment, Felicity could truly kill Oliver. If he wasn't already locked away in a prison cell he would wish he was by the time she got through with him.

"Listen to me," she said, tightening her grip on his shoulder ever so slightly. "I love you. That's why we're here. If it was just me I never would have agreed to protective custody, but I have you to think of now and I will do anything to keep you safe." She moved her hand up to cup his cheek. "You are my whole world and I am not leaving."

There was a brief moment of complete silence as they looked at one another, quietly processing the full scope of Felicity's words. And then William shot forward, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her shoulder. He'd shot up like a sprout since they'd left Star City, so the position caused him to hunch over awkwardly, but he didn't seem to mind. "I love you, too," he murmured into her shirt.

She ran her hand over the back of his head, swallowing back the lump in her throat. They'd get through this. They had each other, and she'd make sure it stayed that way. And when she finally got Oliver back, she was going to make sure they never lost him again either.


End file.
